Dumplings in Turkish are called manti and it’s one of those dishes everyone craves for every time. It’s not an easy dish for many people, so people may not prefer making it at home. I learnt the recipe of Kirghiz Manti from a Kirghiz friend and it looks like it is easier to make as their dumpling is bigger than ours -you see how tiny ours are in the pictures, so if you feel lazy for making Turkish manti, you can try Kirghiz manti too! If you insist on eating Turkish manti, but have no time to make it, you can find it packaged at markets. I find them tasteless though, they are no different from pasta and they have almost no filling inside. There are some small bakery like shops producing and selling Turkish dumplings, which are better than market versions. If the owner of these shops is an old lady and if she herself makes it, this is even better! But still why not make it at home?
Well, I admit that it’s a bit time-consuming if you are making it alone, but I can’t say that it’s a difficult dish. It might take hours to make these small dumplings depending on the amount. Time is the real concern here, so Turkish women come together at one of their homes and make it in a teamwork. At least 3 women – sometimes more work together to make dumplings especially for special days like weddings, welcome or farewell parties or family unions. One of them make dough and roll it out, another one cut it into squares, a third one put filling on each square and then they all start to close them up.
Making Turkish Dumplings Manti is more than making the dish itself. Although they serve for one purpose, which is completing the dish, women never miss the chance of having some chat; well, maybe a bit gossiping! And this is absolutely the best solution for time problem! They can hardly realize how time runs when they finally seal the last dumpling!
The best part of making dumplings with some friends is that you have lots of it in the end and you can freeze some for a future cooking! It becomes an easy dish then! Just boil them in water and enjoy with yogurt!
I think teamwork is definitely a must if you are planning to make Turkish Dumplings Manti for a large group of guests, but you can easily handle it yourself if you make it for two of you.
You don’t need many ingredients for Turkish Dumplings Manti dough. Flour, egg, salt and water are what you need. I made it with whole wheat flour, but you can use all purpose flour instead.
As you are making it in small amount, one cute dough ball will be enough.
I love my rolling pin! I have only one and it’s like the star of my kitchen! Roll the dough ball out not very thin, about 2mm.
Cut it first into strips and then into small squares.
So many dough squares waiting to be closed up! If you double the ingredients, you feel that you need someone to help you at this stage!
Here starts the fun part! First fold it into two.
Then combine all edges.
Then you have this bundle like shape.
It took me no longer than 15-20 minutes to finish them all!
Don’t forget to serve it with a yogurt sauce and oil sauce on the top. I also love to sprinkle a little sumac on it. YUM!
Turkish Dumplings Manti
Turkish dumplings topped with garlicky yogurt and oil sauce called manti.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 2
Ingredients
- Dough:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ cup lukewarm water
- Filling:
- 200g ground beef
- 1 onion, chopped finely
- ¼ bunch parsley, chopped finely
- ½ tsp salt
- A pinch of black pepper
- 1 tsp pepper paste
- Yogurt Sauce:
- 1 cup yogurt
- 2 cloves garlic, mashed
- A pinch of salt
- Oil Sauce:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tsp paprika or chili, sweet or hot
- 1 tsp dried mint
- 4 cups water to boil dumplings
Instructions
- Mix flour, egg and salt.
- Add water little by little and mix with your hand.
- Knead it well until you have a bit tough dough. You can add extra water or flour to have this result.
- Make a ball from it and roll it out not so thin, about 2mm thick.
- Cut it first into strips, then into small squares.
- Place a little filling on each square.
- Close them up patiently.
- Heat 4 cups of water in a pot and add dumplings when it boils.
- Boil them until soften for about 10 minutes.
- Transfer them into plates with a slotted spoon.
- Mix all ingredients for yogurt sauce.
- Heat olive oil and add dried mint and paprika, stir. Take it after about 20 seconds.
- Pour some yogurt on dumplings and drizzle a little oil sauce over it before serving.
Hi,
please let me know how many mantis did you get from this dough
Thanks
Well, I’ve never counted them, they are so tiny. But I can say that these are for two or three portions.
Hello, quick question on this recipe. Do you cook the beef filling prior to stuffing into the dumplings? Or does it cook while they boil?
Hi Alex! No, we don’t cook the filling beforehand. As they are so small in size, they can be cooked when boiling in some minutes.
We’ve never even considered making our own mantı (we have a decent yufkacı down the road from us). It look time consuming but worth the effort as it looks lovely. You may have tempted us to try ourselves, Zerrin. 🙂
Julia
Hi Julia! It’s great if you are happy with the manti you buy from your yufkacı! I don’t really like the ones I buy from shops here. If you’re looking for some culinary experience, you should try it:)